As Anniversary Nears, King Memorial Repairs May Be Delayed

Work to refinish part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial where a disputed inscription was recently removed may not be done until after the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

Work to refinish part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial where...

WASHINGTON — A contractor repairing the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was not insured to use the sculptor's preferred method for part of the work, putting in doubt whether the repairs will be finished before the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Express Newsletters

Get the latest news, sports and food features sent directly to your inbox.

Scaffolding around the memorial's statue of King, where a disputed inscription was recently removed, will be taken down for events commemorating the march, at which King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, on Aug. 28, 1963.

Carol Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Park Service, said the agency was trying to figure out how to smooth the affected area using a technique called aggregate blasting.

Although the sculptor, Lei Yixin, preferred this method, the contractor was not insured to use it, and the Park Service did not request it in the roughly $700,000 contract for the repair work, Johnson said.

She said the agency did not realize that Lei had planned to use the technique.

“The bottom line is it was not in the contract,” she said, “and so it kind of ties our hands.”

The inscription near the statue's left leg — “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness” — was adapted from King's 1968 “Drum Major Instinct” speech, which he gave two months before his assassination in Memphis.

Critics said it made King appear arrogant and boastful. It was removed Aug. 2.

King was alluding to a possible eulogy when he said the words that inspired the inscription: “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

After the inscription's removal, a test of a different blasting technique that used walnut shells left an oily yellow blemish.

Johnson stressed that the statue did not appear unfinished, and that the stain was not noticeable.

“It will look good” for the anniversary, she said.

The Park Service is also considering whether to allow Lei to apply a sealant to the completed work. Johnson said the agency did not normally use sealants.

The Park Service has asked its in-house preservation center to do the blasting and stain removal in hopes that the work can be completed before Lei is scheduled to leave next Tuesday

If the preservation crew is unavailable, the agency must try to modify the contract or secure a new agreement for the remaining repairs, and later bring Lei back to the United States.

“We don't have a lot of time, but we're going to try,” Johnson said.

Further setbacks could cause weeks of delays and thousands of dollars in added expenses.